‘I . . . yes, I mean, he did, but that was one time only, and . . .’
‘Cadence, even without the black eye, the guy’s been drugging you!’
‘But he didn’t force me to take them, I took them on my own. I was the idiot who didn’t look into it properly.’
Michelle sat back and ran her hands through her hair, breathed in deeply and then leaned forward again. ‘Cadence, look at me. This. Is. Abuse. He manipulated you. He led you to believe you were taking vitamins, for Christ’s sake. You need to promise me that you’re going to go to the police and that you’re going to leave him.’
‘I’m . . . I’m definitely going to leave him. I just don’t know how to do it. I’m scared.’
‘Well then, that’s why you’re going to get the police involved. And if you want, I can be there with you when you break it off with him. I’ll back you up.’
‘I couldn’t ask you to do that. We haven’t even spoken for twenty years.’
Michelle shook her head. ‘Doesn’t matter. I don’t care how long it’s been, you’re still my mate and I’m here for you. Right, you need a plan in place. When are you going to do this?’
‘Okay, well, he’s at work right now, but he should be home later tonight, around five-thirty, I think.’
‘Okay, later today I’ll come over to your place and be with you when you tell him it’s over. He claims he has some other apartment, right? In that case we can tell him to pack up his shit and leave right then and there. In the meantime, you need to go and talk to the police. Will you do that today? Now?’
‘Umm . . . maybe . . . or I might do that in the morning.’
Michelle frowned. ‘Cadence, you have to promise me you’re going to go to the police.’
‘I will,’ I said. ‘I just need some time to get my thoughts together. Coming out today, it’s been hard. I kind of just want to get home. And I know I’ll be safe because Luke won’t be there.’
‘All right, fair enough. How about the other woman — Georgia, wasn’t it? Do you have a way to contact her?’
‘No, I’m not sure how to reach her. I gave her my number but it was all in a rush, there wasn’t time to get her number. I’m a bit worried — I told her to call me this morning and I haven’t heard anything.’
‘Hopefully she’s fine. Maybe she’s already broken it off with him. Here, give me your phone. I’ll put my number in it for you, then you can text me your address and I’ll come round later after work. You’re going to get through this, okay?’
‘Michelle,’ I asked, ‘why are you being so nice to me? After all this time, I feel like most people would just say “not my problem”.’
Michelle shrugged. ‘Because I’ve always liked you, Cadence. You’re a good person. And because women have to stick together.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Georgia
As she woke, the first thing she became aware of was the tube coming out of her nose. She crinkled her nose as though she could shake it away, but it was stuck there.
I know what that is. That’s an NG tube. Why is there an NG tube in my nose? Who put that there?
She opened her eyes and saw nothing but blurred shapes. She blinked a few times and the shapes slowly began to take focus. An IV bag hanging from its pole above her. A patient monitor to her right. She was at work. What was she doing at work? She wasn’t supposed to come into work at the moment, not until the investigation was finished. And why was she lying down? Shouldn’t lie down on the job, Georgia, she thought in a silly, stern voice. And she wanted to giggle but she didn’t seem to be able to push any sound through her throat. In fact, now that she was paying particular attention to her throat, she was noticing how dry it was. So dry. Astoundingly dry. Parched. That was the word for it. She was unequivocally, irrevocably, indisputably parched. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was feeling the need to describe it with so many large words.
I’d rather like a glass of water, thanks. If someone could just . . .?
She was suddenly so very tired. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She’d like a glass of water, but she’d also very much like to sleep. Sleep was about to pull her back down, but she was hearing something in the distance, a voice. It was sort of friendly, but sort of not. Sort of stern and brisk. Her eyelids fluttered open again and someone turned the volume up on the voice.
‘Welcome back, Georgia,’ the voice was saying. And she was aware of a woman bustling around her, fiddling with the IV drip and peering at the monitor. ‘Now, I expect you’ll be wondering where you are. You’re at North Shore Private, you had a nasty accident but you’re going to be absolutely fine. How’s the pain right now, Georgia?’
She opened her mouth to answer but once again, no sound would come out.
‘That’s all right, you can show me with your facial expression. You’ll probably find it difficult to speak for a while yet, because the seatbelt pulled right across your windpipe. So, show me: how is the pain? Good? Bad? Muddling through?’
Georgia closed her eyes and focused in on her body, searching for any sources of pain. Her mind ran down through her torso, out through her arms, right to the fingertips. It spun back around and travelled down through her legs, all the way to her toes. Could she feel anything? She didn’t think she could. She opened her eyes and tried to reward the nurse with a happy expression. If she could lift her arms she would give her a thumbs-up. But she was pretty sure her arms weighed about one hundred kilos each and that lifting them would be impossible.
The nurse raised her eyebrows. ‘I think that’s a happy face. Is that a happy face? Yes, I think that’s a happy face. All right, listen, now that you’re awake I’m going to give you control of your morphine. I’m going to pop this clicker in your left hand here and when the pain starts to creep up on you, you press the button, okay?’
I know how a PCA pump works, Georgia said crossly. Although wait a second, she didn’t say it, did she? She only thought it. Wait, why am I here again?
‘Now, you might be wondering why you don’t have any visitors. We’ve only just learned that your name is Georgia. Apparently, your purse was thrown from the car and the police didn’t find it right away. But, the good news is, now that we have your details we’ve been able to reach your partner and he’s on his way here right now, so you’ll probably have plenty of company and a room full of flowers before you know it, okay? So, best thing to do now is close your eyes and get some rest while you can. You have lots of recovering to do.’
The nurse bustled away again and Georgia lay still and felt a warm happy feeling about the fact that Luke was on his way. What was he going to say when her saw her? He must be so worried! And then in an instant, the warm, happy feeling vanished. Because she was remembering. I was on my way home from Cadence’s place.
I was on my way home from Cadence’s place where I’d just found out that everything Luke had told me was lies.
That Cadence hasn’t been stalking me. She never followed me at all.
Her car isn’t red because she doesn’t have a car.
She’s not tall and scary. She’s short and petite.
And Cadence hasn’t been messaging me, either.
And neither has Brett.
Because Brett never really existed.
Because Luke was Brett.
Love in the Time of Cholera.
And he kept calling me a slut. Over and over he called me a slut. Cadence called me a slut. Brett called me a slut. But it wasn’t them. It was never them.
And on the way home, Luke sent me a message. What did it say?
It said: I know your secret.
But when I tried to open it, when I tried to read the rest of the message . . . that was when the world started tumbling.
And now he’s on his way here.
She needed to call that nurse back. She needed to tell her that she couldn’t let Luke in to see her. She needed to tell her that it wasn’t safe, that she couldn’t trust him.
She felt the sma
ll plastic shape in her hand. The button under her thumb. Ah, she would press this button right here and that would tell the nurse that she needed her to come back. Georgia clicked the button with her thumb, over and over again. Click, click, click, click, click.
Come on, what’s taking her so long?
A pleasant, tingling sensation was enveloping her body and she was drifting off to sleep when she realised: You moron, that’s the pain-control pump, not the button to call the nurse.
*
The next time she opened her eyes, Luke was holding her hand.
He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. ‘What a nasty, nasty accident, you silly girl. I wonder if they’ve got a toxicology report back on you yet? I’m assuming they took your blood to test for drugs. Come on, you’re a nurse, you should know. Will the quetiapine I put in your wine after we went ice skating the other night still show up today? I can’t believe you didn’t pick up on it, actually. Not the best nurse, are you? Or maybe that’s on me. The few times I drugged you I tried to make it enough to fuck you up a little bit, enough so that you’d be a bit dopey and agreeable, but not so much that you’d notice. I guess I nailed it.
‘Listen, I don’t know if you got the chance to read my message, but I want you to know this: I know what you’ve been up to. Now, I have to go somewhere for a bit and finish up with something. But I’ll be back very, very soon, okay? Don’t go talking to anyone about me though, will you? Oh, that’s right, you can’t talk at the moment, can you?’
Then he kissed the top of her head and left.
Georgia was left frozen in her bed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Cadence
I was pacing. Michelle was right. I needed to talk to the police, I absolutely had to talk to the police. But I was terrified to do it. Michelle might have offered me her unwavering support, but what were the police going to think of me? Would they trust everything I had to say? Would they question Luke? Check for his side of the story? And if so, what if he spun the same bullshit story to them that he’d spun to Georgia? About me as an angry ex who was stalking him.
Once I did this, there would be no turning back. Besides, I wanted to talk to Georgia first. I wanted to check in with her, see if everything was okay. I really thought she would have contacted me by now, but I hadn’t heard a word from her and I didn’t know how to reach her.
Tonight, Michelle wanted to be there with me when I confronted Luke and broke it off with him. But I wanted to let Georgia know my plans first, to make sure she was prepared for how he might take the news. Presumably she would then break things off with him too.
And how was he going to react? Maybe he wouldn’t care. Maybe he’d be happy, thinking he’d be able to go running off to Georgia. Although probably not, if he was still hoping to somehow get hold of my shares.
When I heard the key in the lock, I froze. Luke wasn’t due back here until tonight.
The door swung open and Luke stepped inside. He smiled brightly at me. ‘What are you doing standing there in the middle of the room?’ he asked as he closed the door behind him.
I hesitated. ‘Just . . . just doing a bit of tidying,’ I said, picking up a random glass from the coffee table and carrying it into the kitchen. ‘What are you doing back already?’ I asked.
‘Was able to come home early,’ he said. ‘Happy to see me?’
‘Of course.’
He walked across the room and put his laptop bag on the kitchen benchtop, then pulled out his computer and a small white bottle. ‘Two things,’ he said. ‘I have something for you to try. You were super jittery yesterday and these tablets are meant to have amazing calming capabilities.’ He unscrewed the lid and shook two tablets into the palm of his hand.
I couldn’t help taking an automatic step back. ‘But if the ones I’m already on are working . . .’
‘Trust me, it did not look that way to me last night. These are brand new and my company is having amazing success with them. Most people would have to pay a fortune for them, but I’ve managed to get you a couple of months’ worth. Trust me, you’re going to want to try these.’ He stepped towards me, holding out the tablets. ‘Unless there’s a reason you don’t trust me?’
My stomach flipped. He was calling my bluff. He had seen Georgia’s purse here and he was backing me into a corner. I either refused the tablets and showed my hand or I took the tablets and kept playing the game. No wonder he’d felt the need to make the move on my shares last night.
But those tablets could be absolutely anything. I couldn’t risk taking them.
‘Of course I trust you,’ I said carefully, eyeing the tablets. ‘But I’ve already taken my usual dose this morning, so I better not try them until later.’
He reached for my hand, lifted it up, unfurled my fingers and placed the tablets in it. ‘Nope. You’re all good. I checked into it. These don’t interact with the ones you’ve been on. You can take them now.’ He turned away and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard, filled it with water from the tap, then handed it to me and grinned.
‘Take them, babe. For me,’ he said.
It was over. He had me. I stared him in the eye. ‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m not taking these.’
He sighed. ‘She came here again, didn’t she? Georgia?’
‘Yes, she did, and she told me everything.’
‘All right, stay calm. The last thing we need is for you to have an anxiety attack. Sit down with me and let me explain it all for you.’
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. ‘Explain? You’re joking, right? You can’t explain.’
‘Absolutely I can. And if you stop getting yourself worked up it will all become very clear in a minute. Please, sit down with me.’
There was something in his tone that told me I needed to at least indulge him. Right now, he was still playing the part of loving boyfriend who thought he could bring me around. But if I pushed him, what might happen?
I sat down with him. He put his hand on my knee, and there was a level of pressure in his grip that suggested I shouldn’t try and pull my leg away. I resisted the urge and breathed deeply.
‘Let me guess,’ he began, ‘she told you she’s my girlfriend, right? That I’m cheating on you with her?’
I nodded.
‘Cadence, it’s utter bullshit. This girl is a freak.’
‘Okay, so if she’s not your girlfriend, how do you know her?’
‘She’s a client. Works at one of the hospitals I sell to. She’s a nurse; Georgia Fitzpatrick is her full name. Look her up if you want. You’ll see that it’s true. And I’m not even supposed to deal direct with her, but she developed this crush on me. I swear I thought it was harmless at first. She struck up a friendship with me. That’s it, that’s all we are, or were anyway — just friends. But she got obsessed with me.’
‘She had photos.’ I kept my tone neutral. I didn’t want to sound too accusatory, I didn’t want him to turn on me. I just wanted to get through this conversation and then get away from him.
‘I told you, babe, we did become friends, but that was before I realised she had a crush on me it. We’re not even that anymore, obviously. But that’s the only reason she has photos of me. Reps and hospital staff go out together all the time. It’s networking. The only reason I tolerated her was because of our working relationship. But she’s crossed a line now. Like I said, I always knew she had a crush on me, but I never thought she’d do something like this. I’m so sorry you had to go through all that. I wish I was here when she came around.’
‘How did you know?’
‘Know what?’
‘That she came here.’
He hesitated. ‘Have a look up there at that shelf. You see that ornament, the black owl? It’s a security camera. That’s how I knew.’
‘You’ve been spying on me?’
‘Spying! No, you’re my girlfriend and you’ve been going through a tough time. I’ve been keeping an eye on you, making sure you’re safe. That’s all.’
I wondered if I would have fallen for this if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew about the tablets, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’d been to see Michelle. I thought about the alarm on her face, the conviction as she leaned across to me and said Cadence, this is abuse.
Maybe I would have been naïve enough to fall for his excuses.
But not anymore.
‘All right,’ I said. ‘I believe you.’ I went to pull my leg away, about to stand up.
He caught my arm and stopped me. ‘Hang on,’ he said, ‘there’s still some other stuff we need to talk about.’
‘Could we maybe do it later? I actually need to . . . be somewhere.’
‘Be somewhere?’ He gave me an incredulous look. ‘Where on earth could you possibly need to go? You can’t leave the apartment at the moment.’
‘Funny thing, like I said, those tablets you’ve been giving me have really made a huge change. My anxiety has been right down. So, I can go out . . . and I need to meet a friend.’
‘Who?’ His voice was sharp.
‘An old schoolmate.’ Michelle was the only person I could think of.
He smiled. ‘That’s great, so great to hear. But I really need to sort this stuff out before you go anywhere, okay?’
He was still holding onto my arm.
‘Okay, what is it?’
‘You know how I was talking with you about money the other day? I actually really need you to give me the right password for your account with your shares. You see, I tried all the passwords you suggested, but none of them worked. But when I checked your computer last night, I saw that you’ve visited the ASX website quite recently, which means that you do know your password.’
I knew there was no point pretending or trying to play dumb. I just needed to find a way to stall him for a little bit longer.
I hesitated. ‘I will,’ I said. ‘I definitely will . . . but I don’t feel comfortable giving it to you right now, not with everything that’s been happening. Can we do this another time? Later tonight?’
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